This article is part of “Death by Delay,” a series on how consumer product hazards have cost lives.
The Boppy Newborn Lounger, a popular infant pillow recalled nearly two years ago, has now been linked to at least 10 babies’ deaths since 2015, federal regulators said Tuesday.
More than 3 million Boppy loungers were recalled in September 2021 after the Consumer Product Safety Commission received reports of babies’ suffocating in them. At the time, Boppy’s padded cushion was associated with eight deaths, which occurred from December 2015 to June 2020.
Two more infants died in the months following the 2021 recall, the CPSC said in an announcement reissuing the recall Tuesday. In the announcement, the CPSC and The Boppy Company urged consumers to stop using the product and to contact Boppy for a refund.
CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric said in an interview that parents whose children died in Boppy loungers thought their babies were safe — “and then the worst happens.”
“It’s too easy with a product like this for the child to fall asleep in it and put the child at risk,” he added.
Loungers, which are supposed to be used when babies are awake and supervised, can put infants at risk of suffocation or asphyxiation in a matter of minutes, especially if they fall asleep, researchers have found.
The newly disclosed deaths include one from October 2021, in which an infant was reportedly placed in a Boppy lounger to sleep and then rolled underneath a nearby adult pillow, dying of positional asphyxia. The other newly announced death occurred in November 2021, when an infant was placed on a Boppy lounger in bed with a parent; the cause of death was not determined.
An NBC News investigation last month found that baby loungers from Boppy and other brands were linked to more than twice as many deaths as federal regulators had previously announced.
In total, NBC News found that at least 25 babies had died in incidents involving Boppy and other loungers since December 2015, according to CPSC data, autopsy reports, court documents and reports from consumers and local authorities.
The two new deaths federal regulators announced Tuesday did not appear to be among the 25 previously counted by NBC News.
Michael Trunk, a Philadelphia-based attorney who represents two families whose infants died in Boppy loungers — a 4-day-old girl and a 1-week-old boy — said the need for The Boppy Company to reissue its recall showed it was not effective the first time.
“I think it underscores the fact that the public hasn’t gotten the message,” said Trunk, a partner at Kline & Specter, PC. “Two more babies have died now. It’s going to keep on happening.”
Boppy released a statement Tuesday encouraging consumers to participate in the recall. “Our hearts hurt for anyone who has lost a child,” said Amy St. Germain, a company spokesperson.
St. Germain added that consumers should follow experts’ guidelines for safe sleep practices, which recommend that babies be put to sleep on their backs on a firm, flat surface without loose blankets, pillows, or other soft bedding.
The CPSC also sent a letter Tuesday urging Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to take stronger action to stop illegal secondhand sales of the Boppy lounger on Facebook Marketplace. The agency called it a “particularly egregious example” of a recalled product’s being unlawfully sold, despite repeated requests from the CPSC and Boppy for such listings to be removed.
Over the past year, the CPSC has asked Meta to remove listings for Boppy loungers about a thousand times per month on average, the letter said.
“Meta can and should be doing much more to save lives,” CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in a statement.
Meta said in a statement that the company regularly reviews its policies and enforcement. The company has previously said Facebook Marketplace’s policies prohibit the sale of recalled items.
“When we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them,” Meta previously said.
Consumer safety advocates have told NBC News that it is more difficult to flag recalled goods on Facebook Marketplace than on other online resale platforms, such as Craigslist and eBay. Facebook requires users to choose a specific reason for reporting posts for removal, but there is no option that would clearly fit an item that has been recalled.
Loungers come in various shapes and sizes. Boppy loungers are round, with a shallow indentation in the middle; they are distinct from the company’s popular U-shaped nursing pillow. Other companies make loungers with rectangular or oval pads surrounded by raised perimeters.
A study commissioned by the CPSC that included multiple brands of loungers and other infant pillow products found that many babies who died suffocated after having rolled over or turned their faces against loungers’ fabric-covered surfaces. Others died from positional asphyxia after their breathing was obstructed when they slouched forward or arched backward. Babies can also suffocate after having rolled off loungers onto other surfaces.
Manufacturers say their loungers are safe if they are used for babies who are awake and supervised. Boppy previously said in a statement that its lounger was never marketed for sleep and that the product included warnings against unsupervised use.
But for years, images of babies sleeping in loungers have circulated on social media. And some other brands of loungers were once explicitly marketed for co-sleeping.
At the time of the 2021 Boppy recall, CPSC staff members wanted to consider sweeping federal regulation of infant loungers and other pillow-like infant products, NBC News has reported, based on interviews with current and former agency employees and consumer advocates.
But one day after the recall was announced, the CPSC’s two Republican commissioners — who at the time held a majority — scrapped that more comprehensive action and instructed the agency to help develop voluntary safety standards, instead.
Other loungers that may pose a similar risk to the Boppy, according to many consumer advocates and infant safety experts, are still available for sale.
The CPSC is expected to consider new regulations for infant loungers in coming weeks, two agency employees said.
